NEWS + ANALYSIS

There is growing consensus from experts and practitioners that international aid needs dramatic change in order to become more effective, more transparent, and less vulnerable to criticisms of waste, corruption, and even net harm.

The Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS) won Atlas Network’s Think Tank Shark Tank competition in 2016 for its pitch to create a massive open online course to engage university students as part of a wider plan to open up food trade in Indonesia – specifically to move the country away from its protection of the local rice industry. In a sign of growing traction of CIPS’ efforts, the Indonesian government recently decided to import 500 thousand tons of rice from Vietnam and Thailand by the end of the month of January.

Last year I had the pleasure of attending the Young African Scholars Colloquium, which took place in Nairobi in October. It was a new initiative of Network for a Free Society (NFS), generously supported by the Goodrich Foundation, to give younger colleagues in Sub-Saharan Africa the opportunities afforded to those in other parts of the world by the Liberty Fund to foster thought and encourage discourse on enduring issues pertaining to liberty. The organizing theme of the colloquium was an Introduction to Liberty, Social Thinking and Constitutional Government.

Some in the liberty movement, but especially those in New York, may remember a tall, quiet, dignified gentleman who economized on words and often preferred to solicit the opinions of others over advancing his own. His name was George M. Yeager and he will be seen no longer. He left us on December 31 of last year, after dealing patiently and stoically with a variety of ailments.

I grew up playing pool with my Dad. We played “no slop” which means you had to call your shot before you struck the cue ball. If you sunk your ball in a way you didn’t intend, you would have to pull it out, put it back on the table, and lose your turn.

On September 14, 2017, Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry tabled a proposal to lower the upper limit on cash payments to 5,000 Bulgarian levs (the equivalent of EUR 2,500 or USD 3,000) from 10,000 levs as part of an overall tax reform package related to VAT and some excise taxes. Cash restrictions of such scope would lead to significant changes for many Bulgarians, who still mostly rely on cash payments for many of their purchases, like second-hand car sales. The justification given for why such tightening of existing financial regulations was needed, however, was that it would reduce the size of the shadow economy and bring in more tax revenue.

Thinking big is important for the cause of economic freedom, and achieving real wins is what thinking big is all about. Argentina wasn’t the only place our partners thought big and won. Here are nine more countries where Atlas Network invested successfully in recent victories for economic freedom by our independent, local partners

It is a great honor for me to give the Liggio Lecture here at Atlas Network’s Liberty Forum. Leonard Liggio truly was the Ambassador of Liberty throughout his amazing career. He was also a great friend and mentor to many of us in this room. My first interactions with Leonard were through the Institute for Humane Studies in the early 1980s, and as a teacher, and as a mentor.

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